Thursday, December 10, 2009

Movement hits Comelec, takes up cudgels for Padaca

MAYORS, representatives and governors belonging to the good governance and ethical leadership movement Kaya Natin! condemned the Commission on Elections for ejecting Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca in favor of administration ally Benjamin Dy.

The Comelec ruling “is a travesty of justice and a willful act by the current administration to tarnish the reputation of not only Gov. Padaca but other leaders of the opposition, particularly members of the Liberal Party,” the movement said in a manifesto.

Those who signed the manifesto were Mayors Jesse Robredo of Naga City, Sonia Lorenzo of San Isidro in Nueva Ecija, Fermin Mabulo of San Fernando in Camari nes Sur, Roque Verzosa Jr. of Tagudin in Ilocos Sur, Marivic Belena of San Jose City in Nueva Ecija, Florante Gerdan of Santa Fe in Nueva Vizcaya and former mayor Gloria Crespo Congco. Former Rep. Nereus Acosta of Bukidnon also signed the manifesto.

The group called for Ferrer to resign or be impeached for showing “incompetence as the presiding officer of the Second Division by subscribing not to the laws of the land, but to lawless hands.”

There was nothing personal or political in the decision, the Comelec said. “We think that’s unfortunate. All we go by really are the results. It’s all mechanical, nothing personal there,” said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.

The decision is the second in two weeks the Comelec handed out in favor of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD, after ruling that Roberto Pagdanganan of the Lakas-Kampi won over incumbent Gov. Joselito Mendoza in the 2007 elections in Bulacan.

Padaca is the co-founder of Kaya Natin! along with Pampanga Gov. Eduardo Panlilio, whose victory in 2007 is also being questioned before the Second Division.

It is highly unlikely and ridiculous to conclude that Padaca used fraud to win by more than 17,000 votes over Dy, something that will entail money and machinery that Padaca does not have,” according to the manifesto.

The group also aired fears that Comelec will also rule against priest-turned- governor and Kaya Natin! co-founder Panlilio who defeated former Board Member Lilia Pineda, a known ally of President Gloria Arroyo.